3 comments:

Yes, this provides a strong counter-narrative to the one promoted by our government through the personal stories of Paula Bennett and John Key. Key and Bennett use their life stories to promote an NZ version of the log cabin to White House myth, then pull up the ladder behind them. I watched the videos of Turei's speech:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=chbNMCWv_30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QYbbRIdWG9E

I particularly found the last section of the 2nd video most moving.

I have voted Green in the past, and Metiria is a very good reason to do so again. She produces some very smart and well-researched pieces of analysis and critiques of the government (and other parties like Labour when appropriate). I've seen some very good speeches and questions from her on the TV broadcasts of parliament.

In the above videos, Metiria weaves the story of her father well into a narrative about the changes in government policies since the 1980s, and humanises the impact of the changes on the least well-off and least powerful sections of society. She also humanises the impact of neoliberal policies on women, especially young single women with children.

In the process, Metiria produces a very powerful critique of the impact of neoliberal policies and the unfair, socially unjust and unequal impacts they have on low income people, especially on Maori and women.